The Raskolnikov's Dream

Raskolnikov’s dream about the mare provides insight into his inner thoughts and emotions. The dream proposes the idea of Raskolnikov having ‘split’ personalities (or is a ‘split’ man). The whole dream had two main voices, which fits Raskolnikov’s two personalities. Half of the townspeople showed sympathy while the other half wanted to see it die. Furthermore, other characters in the book can also be ‘matched’ to a certain character in the dream. For example, Raskolnikov can portray the child, Mikolka, and the mare. If Raskolnikov played as Mikolka, the drunken owner of the mare, then the character that would best represent the mare is Alyona Ivannovna. The brutal beatings of the mare by Mikolka can be compared to the sadistic on Alyona by
Raskolnikov. If the dream was to be deciphered in this way, then this shows how Dostoevsky reveals Raskolnikov’s callous personality through this dream.

Just as the dream reveals Raskolnikov’s dark side, his light side is also shown through the little boy. The boy who watched the gruesome beating realizes its cruelty. He even confronts Mikolka about it when the mare was about to be slaughtered. This represents Raskolnikov’s struggle and contemplation about murdering the pawnbroker. The sympathetic side of him, the little boy, tells him to ‘forget and forgive’ while the other side, Mikolka, tells him to eliminate such dirt for the good of the society.

The downside of this is that Raskolnikov could also be the mare.
The representation of the burden in which the mare has to carry can go to two directions, depending on the context being viewed. If the context was before the murder, the burden could be the internal contemplation in Raskolnikov: should he kill the nasty pawnbroker or let her live? Although the question weighs him down at first, he eventually killed her and her sister along the way. If the context were after the murder, the burden would be the mental burden of guilt. No matter how hard he tries to justify his crime, the guilt just wouldn’t go away. Interestingly, the people who were ‘beating’ the truth out of Raskolnikov may have been the pawns of Porfiry Petrovitch (or the law in general) just as those beating the daylights out of the poor mare were pawns of Mikolka.

Two more characters from the book that show the contrast of Raskolnikov’s personalities are Sonya Marmeladov and Svidrigailov. Sonya is the kindhearted side. She is a prostitute and source of income in her family. Her father drinks away all the money in the family so she is forced to sell her body to provide for her stepmother and siblings. She is compliant and docile. Even if she only had a few copecks left, she would give it to her father who would eventually waste it on more booze. On the other hand, Svidrigailov is the heartless side of
Raskolnikov.

From this, it can be concluded that the goal of this book is to merge Raskolnikov’s contrasting personalities into one character. Sonya is the person that brings Raskolnikov back to his warm side. She shows him through her suffering that it’s crucial to appreciate and love all humanity because everyone makes mistakes. We’re all human after all, so he must learn to forgive. Porfiry is the person that reminds Raskolnikov to do things that would benefit mankind. Throughout the book, Dostoevsky uses a wide range of symbols and characters from the story to show the contrast of two entirely different personalities of the main character, Raskolnikov. Both Raskolnikov’s inhumane and compassionate actions are essential in allowing readers to identify with the two facets of his personality.